JPH034931B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

(Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an input judgment method for a touch input device having a structure in which a transparent touch panel is arranged on the top surface of a flat panel display device, and in particular, the present invention relates to an input judgment method for a touch input device having a structure in which a transparent touch panel is arranged on the top surface of a flat panel display device. This invention relates to an input determination method for avoiding touch panel malfunctions. (Prior Art) FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional touch input device. The touch input device 1 consists of a flat display 2, a transparent touch panel 3 disposed on the top surface thereof, and a control circuit 4. The flat display 2 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, and the touch panel 3 is a capacitive or contact type transparent touch panel comprising a plurality of key elements divided into a matrix. Here, the operating principles of these touch panels will be briefly explained. The capacitive type detects changes in the capacitance of the capacitor formed in the key part due to the influence of the human body's capacitance when a person's finger touches it. Two films with transparent electrode patterns come into contact when pressed with a finger,
It utilizes conduction. The control circuit 4 includes a touch panel input circuit 41, a display display circuit 42, a RAM 43, and a ROM 44.
and a microprocessor 45. The touch panel input circuit 41 is a transparent touch panel 3.
The input signal is converted into a digital signal and transferred to the microprocessor 45. The display device 42 drives the flat display 2 in response to signals from the microprocessor 45 to display key frames, messages, etc. on the display screen. The microprocessor 45 controls the touch input device 1 using a processing program stored in the ROM 44. The touch input device 1 is used as a key input section of a handheld data processing device, and the flat display 2 displays messages, data, touch key input frames, etc. according to the content of the process. The user can make necessary inputs by touching the transparent touch panel 3 with his or her finger, relying on the input frame displayed on the display. The following describes how such a data processing device is used. Usually, a communication interface, a printer, etc. are connected to the microprocessor 45.
For example, by operating the key input section, information is received from the outside through the communication interface, that information is written to the memory (RAM) 43, and by operating the key input section, it can be searched or output to a printer. or It is also possible to input new data and transmit it to the outside through the communication interface. A series of these processing programs is written in the memory (ROM) 44. In a touch type input device having such a configuration, the touch panel 3 is mounted in close contact with the display 2, so that electrostatic noise is generated as the display is driven, causing the touch panel input circuit to malfunction. Note that this noise occurs randomly with a certain frequency. Conventionally, the following method has been used to eliminate malfunctions caused by such randomly generated noise. In other words, a method is used in which, after detecting one key input, it is checked over a certain period of time whether or not it is a malfunction due to noise. Specifically, when one key input is detected, the input status of that key is checked several times at regular intervals, and if consecutive key inputs are detected, that key input is determined to be valid. This is a method of judgment. (Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, the input determination method of the touch input device having the above configuration has the following problems. When inputting by pressing key elements on a touch panel with your finger, several key elements may be pressed at the same time because the boundaries of the key elements are not separated by a physical frame. On the contrary, this is a feature of this type of device, and by displaying key frames of arbitrary shapes and sizes on the display, a touch-type input device with a high degree of freedom can be provided. Therefore, the input judgment method for touch-type input devices needs to be able to eliminate malfunctions caused by randomly generated noise and to be able to process the input states of multiple keys in parallel, so as mentioned above, it is necessary to focus on only one key. It is not possible to properly confirm keystrokes using this method. An object of the present invention is to provide a simple input method for a touch input device that can solve these problems. (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a display device and a transparent display device having a plurality of key elements arranged in a matrix on the display screen of the display device. In an input determination method for a touch type input device, which is equipped with a touch panel and is capable of displaying a key frame of an arbitrary size at an arbitrary position, two sets of memory arrays are provided corresponding to each key element of the touch panel. In the first memory array, the functions and corresponding attributes of each key element are written in advance according to the display form of the keys displayed on the display device, and in the second memory array, all contents are written before key input. , checks whether or not each key element on the touch panel is input a predetermined number of times during key input, writes the number of detected inputs in a second memory array, and records the number of times the input is detected in the second memory array. Adjust the attribute written in the first memory array corresponding to the key element whose number of times is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, and if this attribute is one type, use the attribute as the input determination result; otherwise, This is determined to be an invalid input. Preferably, the predetermined threshold value is set to satisfy the condition that (predetermined threshold value)/(predetermined number of times) is greater than (probability of occurrence of malfunction due to noise). (Function) According to the present invention, since the input determination method of the touch type input device is configured as described above, it functions as follows. The first memory array stores attributes for determining the function of each key element of the touch panel, and the second memory array stores the number of times an input is detected. Attributes are examined only for key elements for which this number of times is greater than or equal to a threshold. By comparing with this threshold value, malfunctions due to randomly generated noise are removed and attributes are checked for valid key elements. If there are multiple key elements that are equal to or greater than the threshold and the attributes of these key elements are of the same type, this attribute is output as the input determination result. Furthermore, if the type has different attributes, it is determined that the input is invalid. Therefore, by checking this attribute, it is possible to accurately determine the presence or absence of input even when a plurality of key elements are touched at the same time, thereby solving the problems of the prior art. (Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 2 indicate the same components. The touch input device 5 is
It is composed of a flat display 2, a transparent touch panel, and a control circuit 6. The control circuit 6 includes a touch panel input circuit 61 and a display display circuit 6.
2, a RAM 63, a ROM 64, and a microprocessor 65, which correspond to the touch panel input circuit 41, display circuit 42, RAM 43, ROM 44, and microprocessor 45 of the control circuit 4 shown in FIG. RAM63 is
In addition to the functions of the RAM 43, it has two memory arrays corresponding to each key element of the transparent touch panel 3, an attribute array memory 63a and a counter array memory 63b. The attribute array memory 63a stores in advance attributes that are information indicating the function when each key element is pressed. All contents of the counter array memory 63b are cleared immediately before the start of key input, and at the time of key input, the counter array memory 63b stores the results of counting every time a key input is detected for all key elements of the transparent touch panel 3. In addition to the normal functions of the microprocessor 45, the microprocessor 65 uses the attribute array memory 63a and the counter array memory 63b based on the processing program stored in the ROM 64.
It controls the touch input device 5 and performs key input determination processing. The operation of this key input determination process will be explained. First, attributes indicating the function of each key element according to the display format of the display 2 are stored in the attribute array memory 63a (“attribute array setting”. Before starting key input, all contents of the counter array memory 63b are stored. Set to 0 (“clearing the counter array”).When inputting a key, check the key input status (presence or absence of input) for all key elements on the touch panel 3, and respond to the key element for which the key input was detected. The operation of adding "1" to the elements of the counter array memory 63b is repeated a predetermined number of times (referred to as the number of scans) ("touch key scanning").Next, the process of "valid key determination" is performed.In other words, the counter The attribute stored in the attribute array memory 63a corresponding to the element whose value stored in each element of the array memory 63b is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value is checked.Only if this attribute is of only one type, the key input is determined to be valid and the attribute is determined as a key input determination result, and in other cases, no key input is determined and a specific value (for example, determined as 0) is determined as a determination result. This will be explained using an example. Fig. 3 shows the information displayed on the display. In this case, data is being input using the keys "1" to "9" and "0". It is a solid line frame key frame, and in addition to the numeric input keys, the "CANCEL" key for correcting the input key and the "ENTER" key for instructing the end of input are also displayed. Above this display surface is a transparent touch panel with key elements arranged in a 10 x 5 matrix as shown in Figure 4.The numbers in Figure 4 are the numbers attached to the touch key elements. This is the key number.FIG. 5 shows the attribute array memory 63a in which the functions given to each key element of the touch panel 3 of FIG. 4 are written in correspondence with the display form of FIG. are distinguished by different numerical values (attributes).Here, in order to clearly show the correspondence with key elements, the attribute array is displayed in the same format as in Figure 4.The numerical value 0 is Indicates that no function is assigned to the key, in other words, key input is prohibited. Table 1 shows the key functions shown in Figure 3 and the corresponding key numbers shown in Figure 4. The correspondence with the key attributes shown in FIG. 5 is also summarized.

[Table] The following explains how the key input is determined in several cases where the keys defined as follows are actually operated. Here, it is assumed that for one key input, the input state of all key elements is checked 10 times (number of scans = 10), and the threshold value for input determination is set to 7. Figure 6 shows
This figure shows the contents of the counter array memory 63b at the time when the ON state check is completed. For example, a key element whose numerical value is 10 indicates that the key was checked 10 times and key input was detected 10 times, and 0 indicates that no input was detected. Figure a is an example when the "0" key displayed in Figure 3 is pressed. Note that the key element corresponding to the array element whose value is equal to or greater than the threshold value will be referred to as a valid key, and the corresponding element of the counter array is shown with diagonal lines. According to Table 1, the valid keys at this time are key numbers 37 and 38.
However, since the corresponding key attributes are both 1, this key input is valid and the key attribute 1 is set as the result. Here (threshold value) / (number of scans)
≫ (Probability of Malfunction Occurring Due to Noise) If a threshold value is determined in advance, malfunctions due to noise can be removed at this point. The fact that the fourth column in FIG. 4A is 1 is caused by such noise. In Figure b, the user pressed the "0" key, but the valid key numbers are 33 and 38, and the corresponding attributes are 3 and 1, so there are two types of attributes, so in this case It is assumed that there is no input, and the attribute is 0 as the result. Figure c shows a case where there is no valid key, and it is assumed that there is no key input, and the attribute 0 is set as the result. In figure d, there is a valid key, but the attribute of the corresponding key is 0 (key input is prohibited).
Therefore, it is assumed that there is no key input, and attribute 0 is set as the result. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the above key input determination process. Flowchart is PAD
Notation (Yoshihiko Futamura et al. “PAD (Problem Analysis
"Design and create programs using Diagram"
Information Processing Society of Japan Journal, Vol. 21, No. 4, P. 259-267) is used. Here, the attribute array and counter array are expressed as ATTRIB(i) and COUNT(i), respectively.
If M is the number of key elements on the touch panel 3 (50 in this embodiment), i _is a number a i from 1 to M.
is an attribute for key number i. Further, N is the number of scans, and THRESHOLD is a threshold value, which in this embodiment is 10 and 7, respectively. Furthermore, the final key input determination result is given to the variable VALID. This flow indicates that the steps proceed in the order of "setting attribute array,""clearing counter array,""scanning touch keys," and "determining valid keys." As described above, according to this embodiment, the input states of all key elements are statistically processed, and the final This makes it possible to avoid key malfunctions due to randomly generated noise, and also to appropriately judge key inputs even when several key elements are pressed at the same time. A touch input device can be provided. (Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate malfunctions caused by randomly generated noise, and to accurately determine whether or not a key input is valid even when multiple key elements are touched at the same time. can be determined.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional touch input device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of information displayed on a display.
Figure 4 shows the key elements of the touch panel, Figure 5 shows the key elements of the touch panel.
6 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the attribute array memory, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the counter array memory, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the key input determination process according to the present invention. 2... Transparent touch panel, 3... Flat display, 5... Touch type input device, 6... Control circuit, 61... Touch panel input circuit, 62...
Display display circuit, 63...RAM, 63a
...Attribute array memory, 63b...Counter array memory, 64...ROM, 65...Microprocessor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A display device comprising a display device and a transparent touch panel having a plurality of key elements disposed on the display screen of the display device and arranged in a matrix, which allows key frames of any size to be arranged in any desired manner. In an input determination method for a touch-type input device that can be displayed in a position, two sets of memory arrays are provided corresponding to each key element of the touch panel, and a first memory array has keys displayed on the display device. The functions and corresponding attributes of each key element are filled in in advance according to the display format of the touch panel, all contents are cleared in the second memory array before key input, and the input of each key element on the touch panel is recorded at the time of key input. The presence or absence of the key element is checked a predetermined number of times, the number of times the input is detected is written in a second memory array, and the first key element corresponding to the key element whose number of times written in the second memory array is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold is An input of a touch type input device characterized in that attributes written in a memory array are checked, and if the attributes are of the same type, the attributes are used as an input determination result, and in other cases, the input is determined to be invalid. Judgment method. 2. Claims characterized in that the predetermined threshold value is set to satisfy the condition that (predetermined threshold value)/(predetermined number of times) is greater than (probability of malfunction occurring due to noise). An input determination method for the touch input device according to item 1.